In 1992, when BSkyB launched its deal to broadcast live Premier League matches, the tone of the promotional strategy was typically bombastic. We were promised a "whole new ball game" to justify the expense of subscribing to a service that had formerly come for free albeit with limited scope. The advertising blitz to accompany the birth of its new bespoke channel, Sky Sports F1, which shares the rights to 10 grands prix with the BBC and will show the other 10 exclusively live, reflects a more sophisticated approach to seduction.

Of course it stresses passion, range and innovation but also emphasises continuity, familiar faces and voices. In the three years since recapturing Formula One from ITV the BBC has expanded the audience for the sport and won a Bafta for its coverage. Revolution is not on Sky's agenda. It certainly does not want to scare the horses, particularly given the opposition that greeted the announcement of the deal last year, and all races will be uninterrupted by adverts. Instead it trumpets the enhancements in breadth, analysis, gizmos, graphics and the technical aspects of production, recognising that the BBC does a stand-out job but determined to refine it further.

Five recruits from the BBC television and radio teams have been appointed to the seven-strong presenting lineup. Martin Brundle reverts to race analyst and co-commentator after a year in the lead role, allowing him to restore the grid walks to their former length without the requirement to dart for the box afterwards. It is good news for fans of the pre-parade lap drinking game. Brundle will play his part in getting viewers wrecked by interviewing plutocrats with cheesy grins and glamour pusses whose hats use up more material than their dresses but will doubtlessly refrain from asking the drain-the-whole-bottle question regarding Bernie Ecclestone's mutation into Andy Warhol.

Further raids on the BBC's talent has garnered Ted Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham to scoop the stories from the pitlanes and Radio 5 Live's race team David Croft and Anthony Davidson. Croft takes the lead commentator's role where his forte is the convivial and passionate style he employs to convey the drama of each race. Davidson's strength is analysis and he has been furnished with a host of graphical features which will complement his recent cockpit experience in explaining technology and tactics.

Chief among these is what Sky calls "a virtual render" of the McLaren MP4-27, a 3D hologram which puts to shame the quaint, flickering one of Lord Olivier in the musical Time. It is a key feature of the channel's flagship Friday night magazine programme and gives Kravitz and Davidson the ultimate toy to showcase their expertise.

The mistake made by the network's football shows in its early years, rampant neophilia breaking the thread with the past by focusing predominantly on developments since 1992, was not repeated when it won sole rights to English cricket and the Formula One Show maintains the links with the sport's heritage in Steve Rider's series of interviews with "legends".

Sky Sports News will be used to extend the buildup over the week preceding each race and the post-race dissection will be lengthened far beyond the time it takes Brundle to demolish his customary ice cream. But the significant changes for those who just tune in for the races and have the requisite kit are that each will be broadcast in high definition and in 5.1 surround sound which transmits engine noise with an intensity bettered only by being in the stands.

Among the nine red button options on "Race Control" are a choice of four driver cams, Sky's own pitlane feed, a timing screen, driver tracker and a Twitter aggregator with dedicated hashtags for each grand prix.

Having agreed to share the rights to cut its costs, the BBC will show 10 races live and broadcast 90-minute highlights of the other 10. The poaching of its talent confirms the excellent service it has provided over the past three years and the challenge now is to maintain those high standards with a modified cast. The retention of Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, David Coulthard and Lee McKenzie suggests that the BBC's strengths – wit, insight, charm, inside knowledge and a sense of fun – have not also departed up the A4 to Isleworth.

Jordan's cushion-cover shirts, idiosyncratic delivery, knowledge, bluntness and badinage have made him a uniquely engaging principal analyst, the genuine star of the BBC's production. He will be joined this year by a pair of interesting recruits, Ben Edwards as lead commentator and Gary Anderson, the former technical director of Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar, as technical expert.

Edwards's appointment has been greeted warmly as long overdue recognition for a broadcaster whose work in A1GP, Champ Car and the British Touring Car Championship vividly captured his excitement and sound judgment while Anderson's work for the BBC's website has been shrewd and enlightening. His pen and paper approach to deconstructing the MP4-27 did not have Sky's pizzazz but he explained the complexities of the design to make it intelligible to those whose mechanical skills do not extend much beyond changing a windscreen wiper.

Radio 5 Live has taken the biggest hit from defections, losing both Croft and Davidson, but the station has gone for a safe choice in James Allen, ITV's former lead commentator, to call the races and the intriguing selection of the 21-year-old Jaime Alguersuari, who drove for Toro Rosso from 2009-11, as summariser. That Formula One works so well on radio seems a paradox but the descriptive verve required for a narrative without pictures offers a fresh perspective on proceedings.

Ultimately, whether your viewing begins with The Chain on the BBC or Sky's Just Drive, with the obvious caveat that you have to pay to access the latter, the offerings of the rival channels should guarantee breadth and depth on a trailblazing scale.